From big-budget to cheap exploitation, the late ‘50s/early ‘60s saw Hollywood churn out Biblical epics. (Mostly filmed in Italy & Spain.) Vet directors like Raoul Walsh & Henry Koster (sure to come in on budget), but also such nonconformists as Nicholas Ray & Robert Aldrich getting on the bandwagon and busting the bank. Ray’s KING OF KINGS/’61 (once dubbed I WAS A TEENAGE JESUS) now has its defenders, but Aldrich’s Old Testament yarn finds few champions . . . including Aldrich. And you can see his point. The usual problems: risible dialogue, mix-and-match international accents & acting styles, a notable lack of skin & sin for all the talk, and a storyline that has Lot locked into a Moses template, leading a flock of suffering Hebrews to new land by the River Jordan. A bigger problem stems from the jealous rivalry of Sodom's brother/sister act with siblings Queen Anouk Aimée & court schemer Stanley Baker stealing focus from ostensible leads God-fearing Stewart Granger as Lot & lovely non-believer Pier Angeli. A pity, since even with a lack of objectionable acts (so many Sodomites and not a single misused orifice!); much of the design (from Ken Adams, later of James Bond); most of the action set pieces (extended battles that actually show strategy along with a cast of thousands); and Aldrich’s nifty habit of nudging the pace forward; all help keep momentum going over a pretty lively two-and-a-half hours. Or perhaps the film is just helped by low expectations.
DOUBLE-BILL/ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Who but roughhewn, no-nonsense Aldrich could have segued the same year from ‘Whatever Happened to Lot and His Family?’ to WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?
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